Automatic breader/sifter unit

ABSTRACT

The invention is an automatic breader/sifter unit used to facilitate the application of a breading material to a food product. The unit includes a rotatable, horizontally-oriented drum that has an octagonal shape. The sidewalls of the drum include a large number of apertures so that when breading material is within the drum, the material contacts the drum and is sifted as the drum rotates. The drum is motor driven and is partially surrounded by an exterior housing. The housing prevents the sifted breading material from escaping from the unit.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention is in the field of food preparation equipment. Moreparticularly, the invention is a unit for applying an outer breadinglayer to a meat or vegetable product. The unit makes use of a rotatabledrum to apply an even coating of breading material to the food productwhile at the same time causing a sifting of the breading material.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There are a number of steps involved in order to place a breading layeron a meat or vegetable product. The base food product, for example apiece of chicken or a mushroom, is initially washed. Optionally, a finelayer of flour may then be applied to the product. Next, the foodproduct is dipped into a liquid batter wash to coat its exterior withbatter. The batter-coated food product is then placed into contact witha breading material such as bread crumbs or flour. Following this, thefood product is manipulated in the breading until an even layer ofbreading coats the exterior of the product. The food product is thenready to be cooked in the desired manner.

The above basic procedure is followed whenever large or small quantitiesof foods are to be breaded. However, the commercial preparer must beable to bread large quantities of the food product in a relatively smallamount of time and with maximum efficiency. Therefore, for thecommercial preparer such as a restaurant or a high-volume foodprocessing plant, a number of devices have been patented to facilitatethe breading process.

Arcabasso (U.S. Pat. No. 3,225,735) teaches a breading unit that employsa rotatable drum for applying the breading to the food product. Aquantity of breading material is initially placed into the drum via ahinged door. Next, the batter-coated food product is placed within thedrum and the drum is then rotated to cause the breading to contact thefood product. The drum includes a plurality of radially-locatedagitators/bumpers that help to remove excess breading from the foodproduct.

Reed (U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,586) shows another type of breading unit thatalso employs a drum. In the Reed unit, once the batter-coated foodproduct and breading material are placed within the drum,radially-located agitator bars are moved in a circular path within thedrum. This causes the food product and breading material to be agitated,with the result that the breading coats the exterior of the foodproduct.

Kennefick et al (U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,427) teaches a breading apparatusthat employs a movable sifter basket that is used to transport the foodproduct to a number of different stations along a table. The sifterbasket can also be used to remove excess flour from the breaded foodproduct by manually oscillating the basket on its pivotal mount.

There are a number of problems that are encountered when a food productis to be breaded. The above noted prior art patents address some ofthese problems with varying degrees of success.

Firstly, a large number of separate, time-consuming steps are requiredfor the breading process. This makes the process labor intensive andtherefore expensive for the commercial preparer.

Another problem is that it is extremely difficult to achieve an evenlayer of breading on the surface of the food product. There will oftenbe areas on the food product that are not coated with breading and otherareas in which the breading layer is too thick. This results in wastageof the breading and an unappealing look to the finished product.

A third problem is that the breading material and/or flour tends toclump together. To alleviate this problem, the breading and/or flourmaterial must be repeatedly sifted in order to evenly distribute theparticles, break up clumps of particles, and to achieve a uniformdensity of the material. However, sifting of the breading and/or flourmaterial is a time-consuming process and usually requires the use ofsifter in a dedicated space.

A fourth problem occurs during the breading process. Some batter willnormally mix with the breading material and cause the formation ofextremely large clumps of the breading material. These large clumps ofbreading, called doughballs, must be separated from the rest of thebreading material and also from the breaded food product. This isnormally accomplished either by hand or with a grid-type separator. Onceremoved, the doughballs are usually discarded.

An additional problem is that when a user wishes to change either thebreading material or the food product to be breaded, an extensive andtime-consuming cleaning of the apparatus is required. Different traysmust be removed and transported to or from remote storage locations. Ifa drum or other breading apparatus is used, a time-consuming disassemblyis required in order to properly clean the unit.

Lastly, when a breading machine is used, it is sometimes difficult toremove the breaded food product from the unit. As a result, the foodproduct can become torn as it is removed from the unit, or portions ofthe breading material can be inadvertently scraped from the exterior ofthe food product.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is a breader/sifter unit that is compact in design and isused to facilitate the breading of food products. The unit employs acabinet that includes a breading material tray and a batter (egg-basedwash) tray inset into its upper surface. The cabinet preferably has aninterior storage area for holding trays of additional or differentbreading materials, batters or food products. Optionally, portions ofthe cabinet can be insulated, refrigerated or heated, depending on theuser's needs.

A rotatable drum is situated above the cabinet's top-located breadingmaterial tray. When a batter-coated food product and a quantity ofbreading material are within the drum, rotation of the drum causes thebreading material to uniformly coat the food product. In addition, thedrum includes an integral sifter structure that sifts the containedbreading material whenever the drum is rotated.

The drum's center axis is substantially horizontally-oriented. The axisis either fully horizontal or is slightly angled from the horizontalwith the front end of the drum tipped upwards. This orientation enhancesthe breading process and allows ready access to the drum's interiorthrough the open front end of the drum.

The drum is octagonally-shaped with each of its eight sides having aplurality of small apertures. The apertures enable the drum to perform asifting operation when breading material is contained within the drum.

A housing surrounds the top, rear and sides of the drum. The housingalso functions to support the drum and includes an electric motor thatis connected to the drum by a shaft. Since the drum is substantiallysurrounded by the housing and is located above the breading tray,particles that pass through the apertures in the drum's sidewalls dropinto the tray.

By combining the sifting and breading stages of the breading process,the unit minimizes the time and labor required to bread a food product.The substantially horizontally-oriented octagonal drum enables an evenlayering of breading onto the food product and allows easy access to theinterior of the drum for the entering or removal of the food product andbreading. The agitation of the food product in combination with thedesign of the drum also causes a comminution of any doughballs thatform. The uncomplicated nature of the unit provides easy accessibilityto its components so that the unit is easy to clean and changing of thefood product and/or breading material is simple and fast.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a breader/sifter unit in accordance withthe invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the unit shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the unit shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the unit shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a side cross-sectional view of the unit shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of a breader/sifterunit in accordance with the invention with the front portion of the unitremoved for clarity.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, wherein like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout the several figures, there isshown in FIGS. 1-5 an automatic breader/sifter unit 1 in accordance withthe invention.

The unit comprises a cabinet-type base 2 and an octagonally-shaped drum4. The drum is located within a housing 6 that surrounds the sides, rearand top of the drum.

The base 2 is preferably rectangular in shape and is supported by eithera plurality of legs 8 or is placed upon a separate cart or cabinet. Thebase has an interior area 10 that is accessible via a hingedly-attacheddoor 12. The interior area includes shelf structures 14 that are used tosupport a plurality of trays 16.

The top of the base has a front recess 20 and a rear recess 22. Thefront recess 20 is sized to inwardly receive a batter/egg-based washtray 24. The tray has an outer lip 26 that engages the top of the basealong the edge of the recess to thereby provide support for the tray.The rear recess 22 is designed to inwardly receive an elongated breadingtray 28. The breading tray fits within recess 22 and is supported at itsedge by the area around the recess in the same manner as used for tray24. p Drum 4 is preferably located above the base and has eight sides 32and a rear face 34. The front of the drum is open to provide easy accessto the drum's interior. The sides of the drum each have a plurality ofclosely-spaced apertures 36 to allow the drum to perform a siftingaction when breading material is contained within the drum. Theapertures are preferably one-eighth inch in diameter. Smaller diameterapertures, for example seven-sixty-fourths or three-thirty-seconds of aninch, are too easily clogged by the breading. Larger diameter apertures,nine-sixty-fourths or five-thirty-seconds of an inch for example, allowtoo much breading to pass through and result in an uneven breading ofthe food product.

The drum 4 is rotatably supported by a shaft 40 that extends outwardlyfrom a motor 42 that is secured to the housing 6. A fastener 44 isremovably engaged to the shaft and contacts the drum's rear face 34. Thefastener 44 is designed to be easily removed from the shaft to enablethe drum to be quickly disengaged from the shaft and removed forcleaning.

When the motor is energized by a user-actuable switch (not shown),attached shaft 40 is made to spin. This causes the drum to rotate aboutits longitudinal or center axis. In this manner, the drum will continueto turn without further action on the part of the operator.

The housing 6 includes sides 46, a top portion 48 an interior rear panel50 and an exterior rear panel 52 that extends to also cover the rearportion of the base 2. The housing 6 is designed to surround the sides,top and rear of the drum. It should be noted that the breading tray 28completely underlies the drum 4. When the drum is spinning, particles ofbreading will escape the drum through the apertures 36 and possibly alsofrom the open front of the drum. The particles will fall either directlyinto the breading tray 28 or they will first hit the interior of thehousing 6 and then fall into tray 28. By containing the drum as shown,the housing prevents breading particles from escaping from the unit asthey are flung out of the sides and top of the drum due to thecentrifugal force created by the rotation of the drum. The housing alsohelps to prevent airborne dust from landing on the drum and rear portionof the breading tray.

The drum's octagonal shape serves a number of functions. Each of theeight sides provides a flat area where the food product can easilycontact a layer of the breading material. Most importantly, the flatareas allow a unique tumbling effect of the food product that is verysimilar to the manipulations that would be used if breading the productby hand. As the drum rotates at a relatively low speed (8-50 RPM), thechicken is caused to continually flip over and lay flat on each side ofthe drum that it contacts. This is similar to manually repeatedlyflipping over the food product in a flat tray of breading material.

In operation, one first loads the drum with a quantity of breadingmaterial from tray 28 until a predetermined quantity of the breadingmaterial is within the drum. The user then takes one or more portions ofthe base food product, chicken pieces for example, and dips each pieceinto tray 24 containing the liquid batter which is normally in the formof an egg-based wash. One or more pieces of the batter-coated foodproduct are then tossed into the drum and the drum is set into motion bymotor 42. The food product piece(s) and breading material begin totumble and within a short time, the food product is covered by an evenlayer of breading material. The drum is then stopped and the breadedfood product is removed from the drum and placed into one of trays 16 orinto a nearby tray or basket for cooking. Additional breading is thenadded to the drum and the process is repeated until all of the foodproducts requiring breading have been similarly treated. It should benoted that the drum does not have to be stationary when the foodproducts or breading materials are placed within or removed from thedrum.

Whenever the breading material is within the drum and the drum isspinning, the reading is sifted by the drum apertures 36. The siftedmaterial that passes through the apertures falls into the tray 28. Thisaction not only saves the user from having to perform a separate siftingstep, but also acts to pulverize the breading material and reduces theformation of doughballs.

FIG. 6 provides a perspective view of a second embodiment of theinvention. The front portion of the unit 1' is not shown to therebyprovide a clear view of the unit's interior. In this embodiment, aheater 60 is located below a number of storage trays 62 to maintainpreviously-cooked food products located in the trays in a warmcondition. An insulated shelf 64 underlies the heater.

The breading tray 28' is located below the rotatable drum 4'. The batterwash tray 24' is located adjacent the front of the breading tray. Thedrum's fully horizontal orientation should be noted. In this manner,even though the breading material may continually spill from the drum asthe food product is being breaded, the horizontal drum surfaces enhancethe breading process.

Below the batter wash and breading trays is a refrigerated cabinet 70having a number of cooling lines 72, 74. The cabinet includes threespaces 76 that are normally used to contain extra trays of foodproducts, batter or breading in a cooled condition. The top-locatedcooling lines 72 function to keep the exposed breading tray 28' andbatter wash tray 24' in a chilled condition.

The embodiments disclosed herein have been discussed for the purpose offamiliarizing the reader with the novel aspects of the invention.Although preferred embodiments of the invention have been shown, manychanges, modifications and substitutions may be made by one havingordinary skill in the art without necessarily departing from the spiritand scope of the invention as described in the following claims.

I claim:
 1. A breader/sifter unit for breading food products, said unitcomprising:a base; a tray means for holding a particulate breadingmeans, said tray means being located on a top portion of the base; ahousing located on top of the base and at least partially covering thetray means, said housing having an interior area; and a drum located atleast partially within said housing and operatively connected to thebase by a rotatable securing means that allows the drum to be rotatedabout a central axis of said drum, said central axis of said drum beingsubstantially horizontally-oriented, said drum having a cylindricalsidewall and an enclosed rear end, said drum sidewall having a pluralityof apertures of a predetermined size that allows the drum to perform asifting operation when it contains a quantity of breading means.
 2. Theunit of claim 1 wherein the drum has an octagonal shape wherein thecylindrical sidewall is composed of eight sections.
 3. The unit of claim2 further comprising a motor means that is operatively connected to thedrum wherein the motor means is capable of causing the drum to rotate.4. The unit of claim 1 wherein the base further comprises an interiorarea accessible from a front-located opening in the base, said interiorarea being capable of inwardly receiving a tray.
 5. The unit of claim 1wherein the apertures in the drum sidewall each have a diameter ofapproximately one-eighth inch.
 6. The unit of claim 1 wherein thehousing has an open front portion.
 7. The unit of claim 1 wherein thetray means completely underlies a bottom portion of the drum.
 8. Theunit of claim 1 wherein the base includes refrigeration means formaintaining its interior area in a cold condition.
 9. A breader/sifterunit for breading food products, said unit comprising:a base; a firsttray means for holding a liquid batter means, said first tray beinglocated on a top portion of the base; a second tray means for holding aparticular breading means, said second tray means also located on a topportion of the base; a housing located on top of the base and at leastpartially covering the second tray means, said housing having aninterior area; and a drum located at least partially within said housingand operatively connected to the base by a rotatable securing means thatallows the drum to be rotated about a central axis of said drum, saidcentral axis of said drum being substantially horizontally-oriented,said drum having a cylindrical sidewall and an enclosed rear end, saiddrum side wall having a plurality of apertures of a predetermined sizethat allows the drum to perform a sifting operation when it contains aquantity of breading means.
 10. The unit of claim 9 wherein the drum hasan octagonal shape wherein the cylindrical sidewall is composed of eightsections.
 11. The unit of claim 9 wherein the apertures in the drumsidewall each have a diameter of approximately one-eighth inch.
 12. Theunit of claim 9 wherein the second tray means completely underlies abottom portion of the drum.
 13. A breader/sifter unit for breading foodproducts, said unit comprising:a base having a first top-located recessand a second top-located recess; a first tray for holding a liquidbatter means, said first tray being removably located in the firsttop-located recess of the base; a second tray for holding a particulatebreading means, said second tray being removably located in the secondtop-located recess of the base; a housing located on top of the base andat least partially covering the base's second top-located recess, saidhousing having an interior area; and a drum located at least partiallywithin said housing and operatively connected to the base by a rotatablesecuring means that allows the drum to be rotated about a central axisof said drum, said central axis of said drum being substantiallyhorizontally-oriented, said drum having a cylindrical sidewall and anenclosed rear end, said drum sidewall having a plurality of apertures ofa predetermined size that allows the drum to perform a sifting operationwhen it contains a quantity of breading means.
 14. The unit of claim 13wherein the drum has an octagonal shape wherein the cylindrical sidewallis composed of eight sections.
 15. The unit of claim 14 furthercomprising a motor means that is operatively connected to the drumwherein the motor means is capable of causing the drum to rotate. 16.The unit of claim 13 wherein the base further comprises an interior areaaccessible from a front-located opening in the base, said interior areabeing capable of inwardly receiving a tray.
 17. The unit of claim 13wherein the apertures in the drum sidewall each have a diameter ofapproximately one-eighth inch.
 18. The unit of claim 13 wherein thehousing has an open front portion.
 19. The unit of claim 13 wherein whenthe second tray is located in the base's second top-located recess, itcompletely underlies a bottom portion of the drum.
 20. The unit of claim13 wherein the base includes refrigeration means for maintaining itsinterior area in a cold condition.